A Death in Chelsea

January 1, 2020
A society gossipmonger murdered? Surely a case for the Mayfair 100. London 1915. The Duchess of Penhere visits Chief Inspector Beech of Scotland Yard on a matter of grave sensitivity. Her daughter, Adeline, the society "commentator" in the London Herald, has been found hanged in her bedroom. Surely she did not kill herself. Can Beech maintain the utmost discretion in investigating this horrid crime? He calls upon the special team only recently formed (Murder in Belgravia, 2018, etc.) and led by Dr. Caroline Allardyce. The Mayfair 100, charged with investigating crimes against women, also includes Beech's old flame Victoria Ellingham; her mother, Lady Maud; and two male members, young policeman Billy Rigsby and Yard veteran Arthur Tollman. None of the women has a high opinion of the victim, who published slanderous lies, but justice trumps opprobrium. They begin their questioning with the staff at the rooming house in "raffish" Chelsea where Adeline lived. After examining her body, Caroline determines that death occurred hours before hanging. With no dearth of suspects among the offended elite, the probe fans out in multiple directions. Beech questions Lady Maud about the Duchess; Tollman and Billy try to clarify the logistics of the crime; Caroline continues to examine the body and the murder scene for additional clues. The recent introduction of fingerprint technology narrows the field of suspects and leads ultimately to the solution, which involves another murder and a blackmail plot. Crowded with colorful characters, Brittney's second Mayfair 100 mystery consistently entertains.

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January 20, 2020
In Brittney’s impressive sequel to 2019’s Murder in Belgravia, likewise set in 1915 London, the “special secret team of amateur women detectives and professional policemen,” created by Scotland Yard Chief Insp. Peter Beech and named for the unit’s phone number, investigate a murder case. When the duchess of Penhere learns that her daughter, Lady Adeline Trenborne, has been found hanged in the young woman’s bedroom, she contacts Scotland Yard. Though the aristocrat disapproved of Lady Adeline’s job as a society commentator for a newspaper, she insists that her child would never have committed suicide. That suspicion of foul play is confirmed by team member Sissy Rigsby, a constable’s aunt, who notes that the corpse’s blue lips are inconsistent with death by hanging. Further probing reveals a surprise—that Lady Adeline, who wrote frequently about society functions, apparently never attended any and didn’t have a network of informants sourcing her gossip columns. Brittney is as adept at characterizations as at plotting. Maisie Dobbs and Bess Crawford fans will hope for a long series run.